Alabama to
Mississippi then up to
Tennessee and home
Driving across the the southern part of the country to a wedding near Memphis.

1st time visit to both Alabama and Mississippi.
Still a bit of shock to see the Mississippi State Flag.
Alabama to
Mississippi then up to
Tennessee and home
Driving across the the southern part of the country to a wedding near Memphis.

1st time visit to both Alabama and Mississippi.
Still a bit of shock to see the Mississippi State Flag.
Food? Existential
necessity, carries love.
Daily life structure
Grandma’s food was a conduit that transmitted love. Peasant women worked too hard and too much to find time to cuddle and play with the kids; instead, they would make their favourite dishes. This is another source for the ethical value of food – it carried love . From ‘Bread is practically sacred’: how the taste of home sustained my refugee parents By Aleksandar Hemon
Another well-written article from the Guardian. (UK)
Sign of a Nation
Equal justice, right and law
Hats Off! Flag passing!

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A dash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land’s swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,–all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Henry Holcomb Bennett
Henry Holcomb Bennett (December 5, 1863 – April 30, 1924) was an American author, journalist, and poet.
Bennett was born in Chillicothe, Ohio on December 5, 1863. He attended Kenyon College and graduated in 1886. He moved to Kansas for a time before returning to his home town as a journalist. He also began submitting creative writing to various newspapers and magazines.
Bennett was the author of poems such as “A Desert Love Song” (Munsey’s Aug. 1902) and “Gangway! Gangway”, (National Magazine Mar. 1901) and the short stories “The Face of Ompah” (National Magazine June 1900) and “A Glorious Privilege”, (National Magazine Nov. 1900) but remains best known as the author of the popular patriotic poem, “Hats Off – The Flag Goes By”.
It was first published in The Youth’s Companion on January 13, 1898. It was collected in An American Anthology in 1900, edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908). The poem was also published in The Young and Field Reader, Book Five, Boston, Ginn and Company, c. 1915, submitted by Ross I. Morrison, Sr and Woman’s World in July 1919. It was soon published and sung widely—especially on the 4th of July. Years later, poet E. E. Cummings recited the poem at his class’s commencement.
Bennett is buried in Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, USA. (wikipedia)
folks worthy of trust,
confidence, not required
for public office
US Secret Service agents carry a Commission Book that holds their badge and their commission as an agent.
The commission book of the agent states that the bearer is “Worthy of Trust and Confidence.”

The US Secret Service careers website says, “The United States Secret Service culture is represented through the agency’s five core values: justice, duty, courage, honesty and loyalty. These values, and the Secret Service adage “Worthy of Trust and Confidence,” resonate with each man and woman who has sworn to uphold these principles. Not only do these values foster a culture of success, but they also hold each person to the highest standards of personal and professional integrity.”
The words “Worthy of Trust and Confidence ” do not appear in the US Constitution in the qualifications listed for President, Senator or Representative.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Maybe Mr. Madison and his buddies couldn’t imagine that these words might be needed.
On the other hand, maybe they did know and realized that using these words might severely limit the employment pool.
chill through the heart
apocryphal predictions
end of printed word?
I want a world with books.
Lots and lots of books.
And lots of bookstores and lots of libraries.
But it is practical?
They say the iPhone has the computer power to match the old CRAY5 Mega Computers of the 1980’s.

On my computers and devices, I have 1,000s of titles and with internet access, I have access to million’s more – on a level that was beyond even imagination until this century.
I have worked in bookstore, libraries and publishers.
I have been around books all my life.
There is a bookstore in Savannah where I hope to get a job when I retire.
I still find unexplainable personal pleasure in reading a well bound hard cover book.
I still find unexplainable personal pleasure in being in a library or bookstore.
I still find unexplainable personal pleasure in seeing large personal libraries.
But we have moved often and relocating a personal library of lots and lots of books changed my personal point of view.
Printed books have moved from a necessity to a luxury.
And so many things get printed for some reason.
Just look at cook books.
I have a rule that if a cookbook had 1, just 1 good recipe that I would use, that was a good cookbook.
And good cookbooks are hard to find.